The Orang Asli community in Kampung Pos Lanai, Pahang is bewildered over the state government’s announcement that a rare earth mining project in nearby Sungai Wang has been approved.
According to the Semai villagers, this is all the more baffling because the courts are still hearing their legal battle to have the land classified as reserve land.
The tribe, with the help of PSM, initiated the court case in 2021.
However, Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail’s announcement in May that an area of 220ha - or about 411 football fields - had been approved involving land around Sungai Wang in Lipis, would seem to bypass any decision by the courts.
What’s more, Sungai Wang is already showing the effects of pollution as the once flourishing river is now a muddy creek.